West Hollywood's Creative Triennium: 2025-2028

West Hollywood's Creative Triennium: 2025-2028 outlines an authentic and bespoke vision for citywide cultural programming that centers artistic excellence and community engagement. The intent of this project is to create an immersive experience-cultural activity everywhere, all the time, and center the City of West Hollywood as a cultural hub during the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Whenever a resident leaves their home, or a visitor steps outside their hotel, they will experience something unexpected.

The plans for the Creative Triennium serves as a strategic framework to guide the City's cultural programming in the lead up to the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Creative Triennium is designed to establish a clear tone and set of expectations while expanding the city's capacity to deliver impactful arts and cultural initiatives. Certain components will begin implementation in 2026 and are intended to create a legacy beyond 2028. Projects vary in scope and format-some will involve extended installations, others may unfold as pert of a series and select initiatives will be presented as standalone projects aligned with significant sporting or cultural milestones during the plan's implementation period.

PROCESS

On April 1, 2024, City Council approved a RFP for a consultant to provide community outreach and engagement services for a West Hollywood Art Project during the 2028 Summer Olympics. AEA Consulting was selected from the RFP process conducted for agencies/firms to help guide this effort and outreach. In the summer of 2024, the City of West Hollywood embarked on a visioning and planning process with AEA Consulting to plan for arts and culture events, experiences, and activities to take place during the 2028 Games with the intention to position West Hollywood as an arts and cultural hub during the 2028 Games by showcasing the city’s creative identity through innovative arts programming. The consulting team for this project was led by consultants Laura Zucker and Bella Stenvall from AEA Consulting. Additional details about the Community Engagement process can be found below.

On April 24, 2025, the Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission approved the Cultural Art Plan 2025-2028 and recommended City Council approval. The plans for West Hollywood's Creative Triennium: 2025-2028 will be presented to City Council on June 23, 2025.

Two key considerations shaped Inventing Traditions, the thematic framework for West Hollywood's Creative Triennium: 2025-2028 - the initiative needed to be distinctly WeHo, and it required an expansive, accessible theme that could be embraced by artists, arts organizations, and businesses of all sizes. In a 2012 article for The New Yorker, Louis Menand reflected on the London Olympics and referenced the work of historians Eric Hobsbawm and Terrance Ranger, who coined the term "invented traditions." These are ritualized events official or quasi-official – often presented as revivals of ancient practices, designed to create a sense of continuity with the past. The Olympic Games themselves exemplify an invented tradition, continually adapting, blending history and innovation.

Through visual art, performance, multimedia installations, and participatory projects, West Hollywood will invite artists to examine how traditions are formed, reshaped, and redefined. Whether born from necessity, celebration, or resistance, artists will be invited to consider how global events can inspire new ways of understanding identity, community, and cultural legacy. As a hub of creative experimentation and cultural activism, the city will engage artists in questioning which traditions we carry forward, which we alter, and which we leave behind. This theme serves as both a reflection and a call to action, affirming West Hollywood’s commitment to equity, inclusion, and cultural innovation by celebrating tradition as a dynamic, living process.

On October 25, 2024, the Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission received a presentation from AEA Consulting and approved a theme of “Inventing Traditions” to inform the community engagement sessions. This theme serves the City in the following ways:

Builds on the Olympic spirit, a tradition itself reinvented over time, and the Los Angeles region’s Olympic arts legacy, from the 1932 Cultural Olympiad to the transformative 1984 Olympic Arts Festival, and reflects West Hollywood’s evolution as a global leader in art and culture.
Enables West Hollywood to collaborate within the larger framework of LA28 while honoring its unique identity as a creative center.
Offers endless possibilities for interdisciplinary artists, organizations, culinary, design, and fashion talents to contribute to a shared artistic vision and collectively define new, sustainable traditions that celebrate the City’s values and progressive spirit, ensuring a lasting cultural impact that extends well beyond the Olympic Games.

With several major sporting events planned to occur in Los Angeles drawing sizeable audiences, activating artistic programming around these moments and potentially others will allow for the city to build momentum, experiment, and capture the energy and media attention surrounding them. Five art activations are planned from 2026-2027 leading up to the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games including:

Discofoot – a blend of choreography, dance culture, music and soccer, to celebrate the 2026 World Cup. West Hollywood will serve as the destination for the U.S. premiere.
Custom mural artworks on the outdoor basketball courts in city parks as the 2026 NBA All Star Game will be held at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles.
Partnership with neighboring cities to utilize Santa Monica Boulevard, historic Route 66, as a temporary public art corridor, in celebration of Route 66 100th year anniversary in 2026. Feature a series of artist designed street signs, site-specific public art installations, murals, and/or temporary art performances along historic Route 66, reflecting the themes of travel, connection, and cultural exchange – mirroring the Olympic spirit – in celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Route 66.
Present a LGBTQ+ marching band that reinterprets halftime traditions with bold costumes and choreography that reflect West Hollywood’s creative spirit, to celebrate the return of the Super Bowl in 2027 to Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles.
Host a Mural Festival in the city to support temporary artworks on private businesses, a recommendation from the City Council approved 2024 Economic Study and recently adopted Rainbow District initiative. All murals installed in 2027 will remain on view through 2028.

All city arts programming presented from March – September 2028 will align with the Creative Triennium's theme, Inventing Traditions. Signature annual events, such as the WeHo Pride Arts Festival and Summer Sounds, will be reimagined to reflect this theme, with additional supplemental projects to include temporary public art installations, Moving Image Media Art exhibitions, and presentations by arts grantees.

The Arts Grant Program will be amplified with a 2028 Special Art Project grant for artists and arts organizations. Grantees will play a central role in bringing West Hollywood's Creative Triennium theme to life. Applicants will be invited to propose innovative, participatory ideas that infuse the initiative with energy, relevance, and global resonance. Grantees will receive two years of funding: the first year’s funds will be for planning and development; the second year for implementation.

An east-west visually unified temporary public art corridor will be created along Santa Monica Boulevard, historic Route 66. The corridor will feature site-specific public art installations, murals, and/or temporary art performances. In partnership with neighboring municipalities, it’s possible that a project like this could extend the corridor from Pasadena, through downtown Los Angeles, and out west to the ocean in Santa Monica. There is strong interest from the other municipalities to participate.

Literary programs will include a special WeHo Reads literary series, a new poem by the City Poet Laureate, and a special exhibition at the West Hollywood Library with displayed books related to the theme and LGBTQ+ athletes. In addition, the city is exploring opportunities to collaborate with entities like the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, the US Olympic and Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs, CO, and the LA84 Foundation archives for a special exhibition in West Hollywood.

Summer Sounds can present content related to the theme and the presentation of the series may be modified to align with the city’s Fan Zones. Also, the Free Theatre in the Parks program can accommodate the theme in its presentation of six performances in September.

The projected growth in the number of digital billboards along Sunset Blvd provides a key opportunity for the Moving Image Media Art (MIMA) program to present an exhibition that could attract national, and even international, editorial coverage. The MIMA Program can explore opportunities to incorporate a creative advertising campaign in a way that aligns with the program’s guidelines. This might include collaborating with artists and brands on concept-driven visuals or integrating sponsored content that maintains aesthetic integrity.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
LOCAL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION + NON-COMMISSIONED PARTICIPANTS

A purple post-it on a board reads "uplifting indigenous people as a focal aspect of the event".

A group of blue, purple and green post it notes lay on a board.

A drag queen with a green dress and tall blonde hair interviews someone with long blonde hair and a tye dye shirt.

A young girl decorates an Olympic medal on a purple table with someone with short black hair and a black puffer jacket helps her.

Someone in a mustache, top hat, and accordion, performs for a group of children outside at a park.

A young child with curly hair stands on a podium with his fists in the air in front of a dark blue step and repeat that says "weho.org".

A man with a colorful hat and a yellow shirt talks on a microphone while a man with a black jacket sits to his right.

Someone stands in the front of the room with a microphone presenting a slide that says "Project Process Overview" while a group of people watch on green stairs.

A group of people sit in a circle of green chairs looking towards a person in black glasses holding their hand up.

In the summer of 2024, the City of West Hollywood embarked on a visioning and planning process with AEA Consulting to plan for arts and culture events, experiences, and activities to take place during the 2028 Games with the intention to position West Hollywood as an arts and cultural hub during the 2028 Games by showcasing the city’s creative identity through innovative arts programming. The consulting team for this project was led by Laura Zucker and Bella Stenvall.

On October 24, 2024, the Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission unanimously approved the theme Inventing Traditions to be explored in the community engagement sessions. This thematic framework provided a porous structure for the consultant to discuss the arts and culture events, experiences, and activities as it related to individuals and organizations across genres, and it universally resonated with the public, artists and businesses who participated in the sessions. The thematic framework for the Art Project was presented to City Council on November 18, 2024, in a staff report with an update on the City’s 2024 Paris Olympics Delegation and planning for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

In November 2024, AEA Consulting initiated a comprehensive engagement process to invite the community to weigh in on the thematic framework and possible criteria for the arts and culture events, experiences, and activities presented in 2028. As part of this process, AEA developed the goals, objectives, and desired outcomes of public engagement, key messaging to communicate the thematic framework, a schedule and format of the public engagement sessions, and key questions related to the thematic framework and selection criteria.

Through the community engagement sessions, the city interacted with over 400 community members, artists, arts organizations, and cultural venues through in-person sessions, the city’s Engage WeHo website, and a virtual community meeting. Three artists were invited to lead community engagement sessions, each using their creative practices to ignite dialogue and foster connection. Pickle, West Hollywood Drag Laureate, engaged the public through in-person interviews in the Rainbow District and at the farmers’ market. City Poet Laureate Jen Cheng invited reflection through a multidisciplinary storytelling session during West Hollywood Day, while Odious Ari brought humor and music to the Winter Wonderland event with a participatory children’s performance centered on tradition and the Olympic spirit. These artist-led moments created meaningful entry points for community voices. The Engage WeHo website continues to serve as the central hub for updates, feedback, opportunities, and event information.

In-Person Community Conversations

October 24, 2024 - Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission meeting

November 11, 2024 - Helen Albert Certified Farmers' Market (Plummer Park)

November 18, 2024 - Helen Albert Certified Farmers' Market (Plummer Park)

November 18, 2024 - City Council meeting

November 21, 2024 - West Hollywood Day event (Pacific Design Center)

January 24, 2025, 10am - Creative Community Outreach session (West Hollywood Library Community Meeting Room)

January 24, 2025, 2pm - Creative Community Outreach session (West Hollywood Library Community Meeting Room)

January 25, 2025 - Winter Wonderland event (West Hollywood Park)

April 24, 2025 - Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission meeting

Virtual Community Conversation

January 28, 2025 - Creative Community Outreach session (Zoom)

Engaging West Hollywood’s business districts, tourism, hospitality sectors, and local neighborhoods are essential to creating a vibrant and community-driven cultural arts experience. During the plan’s development, staff and the consultant team met with the Business Improvement District boards to solicit feedback and alert them to the city’s plans.

The city will provide a way for organizations, for-profit businesses, and community members to participate without city funding, expanding the initiative’s reach and inclusiveness. Participants could provide themed food and beverage specials, host creative community dinners, or organize arts-inspired events to align with the Cultural Art Plan’s theme in keys ways, ensuring thematic and artistic cohesion across all contributions. Both commissioned and non-commissioned participants who receive approval from the Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission will be formally recognized and included in all marketing materials, creating a “big tent.” This strategy will cultivate a sense of collective ownership and broad community engagement, making the initiative feel larger and more inclusive than its budget alone might suggest.

Since 2020, Visit West Hollywood has been coordinating conversations between the West Hollywood hotels and the organizing committee to gauge interest in contracting room blocks directly. Visit West Hollywood has continued to maintain communications as the organizing committee has evaluated its hotel room needs either directly through its team or its exclusive hospitality packaging partner, On Location, which has engaged directly with several West Hollywood properties. As of February 2024, which was nearing LA28’s hotel contracting deadline, Visit West Hollywood has received confirmation that two West Hollywood hotels have signed directly with LA28 and an additional five hotels, contracted through On Location. Other West Hollywood hotels have expressed interest, but their participation and negotiations are being handled directly and independently. Given West Hollywood’s primarily transient nature, Visit West Hollywood expects, based on patterns observed during high-compression events like the Super Bowl, that with base room blocks secured, the remaining inventory will fill according to each hotel’s strategy and availability. Many hotels with contracted blocks are already sold out for the games and anticipate further booking activity for available hotel rooms closer to the event dates.

Visit West Hollywood continues to receive Requests for Proposals from third-party meeting planners for leisure and corporate groups looking to attend the 2028 games or adjacent events. Additionally, Visit West Hollywood remains in active discussions with key global travel trade partners, also sharing the news of Pride House, to explore packaging opportunities that promote stays and bookings in West Hollywood during the 2028 games.

The City worked with AEA Consulting to establish a plan (purpose, goals, and vision) for the Cultural Art Plan 2025-2028 in preparation for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. A series of community engagement sessions took place from November 2024 through February 2025.

The AEA Consulting team for this project was led by Laura Zucker and Bella Stenvall. Laura Zucker is a nationally recognized arts leader whose expertise spans grant making, cultural equity, cultural policy, capital project master planning, arts education, public art, cultural tourism, management, and funding strategies. Bella Stenvall is invested into embedding arts and culture into the choreography of public life as a means of social change and applies an interdisciplinary approach to strategy development, qualitative research design, and data analysis while centering values of equity and inclusion.

AEA Consulting was selected through a RFP process for agencies/firms to help guide this effort and outreach.

For updates and information related to the City of West Hollywood’s preparations for the Games visit weho.org/OLYMPICS.

Contact Information
Name	Rebecca Ehemann
Phone	(323) 848-6846
Email	rehemann@weho.org
Website	www.weho.org
In writing	8300 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90069

Timeline

Timeline item 1 - complete

Visioning, Goals, & Objectives

Preliminary research and consultations to align around core project priorities.
Timeline item 2 - complete

Community Engagement Design

Co-create in-person & virtual community engagement process with WeHo artists.
Timeline item 3 - complete

Engagement & Activation

Host drop-in neighborhood conversations for feedback.
Timeline item 4 - complete

Develop Implementation Plan

Assess site and program opportunities
Timeline item 5 - complete

Draft Plan Presentation

Present the draft plan to the Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission on April 24, 2025.
Timeline item 6 - active

Final Report

Present West Hollywood's Creative Triennium: 2025-2028 plan to the City Council on June 23, 2025.

A white person with blonde hair and a pink glove

Pickle

Community Engagement Facilitator

West Hollywood's Drag Laureate. Live-singing, drag queen host, entertainer, and storyteller.

Person with short hair a black hat smiling

Jen Cheng

Community Engagement Facilitator

West Hollywood Poet Laureate. Multidisciplinary storyteller, weaving her skills as a poet, writer, musician, improvisor, and artist.

Person with mustache playing an string instrument

Ari DeSano

Community Engagement Facilitator

Odious Ari (Ari DeSano) is the world’s oldest living Vaudevillian who wants to entertain with song, comedy, tragedy, and magic!

West Hollywood's Creative Triennium: 2025-2028

Contact Us

Pickle

Community Engagement Facilitator

Jen Cheng

Community Engagement Facilitator

Ari DeSano

Community Engagement Facilitator

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